Rhodospirillum rubrum P17 was used to investigate the pontential for the treatment of soybean curd waste and for the utilization of the biomass produced. The maximal biomass production and COD removal from the waste water were obtained at 30C, pH 7.0 under 2,500lux production and 50 rpm of agitation. The initial COD level of the soybean curd waste water was 3,240mg/l, and after 4 days of cultivation in batch culture, 3.46g/l of cells was obtained and COD level of the waste water reduced to 150mg/l (COD removal rate 95.4%).